MURDERER OF 14 WON'T APPEAL HIS CONVICTION

R. Gene Simmons, sentenced to death after being convicted of killing 14 family members, will not appeal the sentence, one of his attorneys said.

"I talked to Mr. Simmons this morning, and he said he has no desire to appeal this case," attorney John Harris said Wednesday.Authorities discovered the bodies of Simmons' wife, seven children, two of the children's spouses and four grandchildren in and around Simmons' Pope County home on Dec. 28 and 29, 1987.

Harris said a hearing was scheduled this afternoon for Johnson County Circuit Judge John S. Patterson to determine whether Simmons "knowingly and intelligently decided to waive his right to all appeals."

A jury convicted Simmons, 48, in the slayings Feb. 10 and then sentenced him to death. Patterson set March 16 as the date for Simmons to die by lethal injection.